The arguments that say Islam is stuck in the past, 500 years behind Christianity, and fundamentally violent and misogynist do have a lot of merit.
Where I can’t make the jump is to say that the vast majority of muslims who are normal peace loving people are ‘pretend’ muslims or ex-muslims.
We need the vast majority of musiims to lead the change and marginalise the extremists, which hopefully they will do given time.
The main problem we have with that is the west’s foreign policy towards the oil rich countries. The more we bomb them the more we will create martyrs and Angry Young Men. Leaders who have political motivations can manipulate the weak minded more easily using the name of religion, even though it’s a lot more about political aims and psychology.
The day before yesterday, although it didn’t make the news the US bombed a school in Syria. Although it wasn’t being used a school, it was being used as a shelter for families who’d lost their homes through other bombing raids. 33 men, women and children died. Didn’t even make the fucking news.
What do you think the young men looking at this going on who lose family are going to think? How ripe for the political picking are they going to be? If it was my family killed by a US bombing raid I’d be in the hills with an AK47. Yes, a lot of these terrorists are home grown, but they still see what’s going on. To them it’s going to be a noble cause. They may still have family in a war zone. Or, as in the cases of Wednesday’s attack he may just be a violent nut job. It appears he was a violent Christian nut job before he became a violent muslim nut job.
AYM aren’t a religious issue, they’re a political consequence of policy. You only have to look at history to see that.